Journaling — the act of writing things down somewhere (where doesn’t really matter) — has many benefits. Here’s an important one:

“It’s not in the rereading that one finds solace but in the writing itself. It’s like crying—you don’t know why, but you feel so much better afterward. Everything pours, streams, flows, out of you aimlessly,” writes Samara O’Shea in her beautifully written book Note to Self: On Keeping A Journal And Other Dangerous Pursuits.

Here’s another: Journaling is a profound — and simple — way to get to know yourself better. To figure out what makes you tick. What makes you happy. What makes you defensive. What makes you giggle or grateful or grieve. What makes you who you are.

I transcribe the thoughts in my brain. I ask myself questions and hopefuly the answer soon follows. Writing is my therapy – it has helped to save my life..I can’t live without writing. It has become a part of who I am.

I got my first “diary” when I was like 9 years old, I’ve been journaling pretty consistently ever since. For the last 8 years I’ve been doing the Morning Pages from Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way,” three longhand pages every morning as soon as I get up. More recently I’ve included a gratitude practice as the last half of the third page. I can tell when I don’t do my MP’s, my day gets all wacky and off track.

Journaling is wonderfully theraputic. I did it for years. I’ve found that when I felt like I couldn’t make a decision or didn’t know what I wanted it helped me figure it out. Sometimes we don’t know what the real issue is. Then the writing takes over and all the sudden you realize your writing the answers, not the questions.

I have been journalling in since I was a child. My journel is a letter – to the power out there I choose to call God, to myself. Over the years it has become a best friend, as I write about my feellings, about my concerns a conversation begins and slowly clarity comes

I use one of my notebooks as a journal where I write down my thoughts when I get home. I keep it to remember things that seems important to me. I travels with me when I am on the road and so I have it with me whenever I want to write something down.
It helps me to sort my thoughts and to clear my mind. Sometimes it’s amazing what new insights come out of this and it has helped me to get closer to myself.
And: I can say whatever I want, it never takes it the wrong way

Journaling is also much cheaper than a therapist. Instead of having a licensed professional asking you questions…. you ask yourself questions and end up learning more about yourself and dealing with some problems you have.

I have journaled on and off for decades, luckily over some of the toughest times of my life. I get side tracked easily now-a-days, but I do love to write and though I can write decently enough on the computer, there are times that the pen and paper is more comforting. I have multitudes of pens to match the paper, the speed and the comfort I want just then. Fountain pens are great, with just enough drag to slow you down. Gel pens, on the other end of the history, are also nice, but don’t last very long. My favorite is a fine point Papermate power point.
Somehow I have managed to keep track of my journals, whether on loose leaf or in bound note books.
I really need to do it daily. Right now, I’m going through some bumpy spots and I need the perspective flow of consciousness writing gives me.

I have owned journals my whole life, but never knew how to journal. I found myself making rules, or having multiple journals for different things and that became a chore. I’m 42 note and I’m happy to say, I finished my first journal, front to back, a week ago. I’m officially addicted. I started just writing what I was grateful for, that turned into prayers, that turned into thoughts and therapy. I have learned so much about myself. There is no “write” or wrong way to journal and it is so freeing. I now have one by my bed and one in my tote bag, so I always have a journal near me when the urge to write comes. Love it, live it, live it!